They Can't Take That Away From Me
by Tracy Winston
Summary: What has been going through Daphne's mind these past few months before her wedding?


  
Title: They Can't Take That Away From Me  
Author: Tracy Winston  
Rating: Not Rated  
Spoilers/Timeframe: "Something Borrowed, Something Blue"  
Summary: What has been going through Daphne's mind these past few months?  
Feedback: Yes, please do! I'm here at DaphAndNiles@aol.com   
Author's Notes: For all that have read one of my other Frasier stories, Heart & Soul, you see that I have been writing song-fic lately. Usually the idea of fitting a song into a story seems odd to me, but for the most resent situations in Frasier, I feel it's appropriate. :)  
-~-~-~-~-~-  
  
Our romance won't end on a sorrowful note  
Though by the morrow, you're gone.  
The song is ended, but as the song-writer wrote,  
The melody lingers on.   
  
They may take you from me.  
I'll miss your fond caress.  
But though they take you from me  
I'll still posses...  
  
  
Ever since Christmas, I've been more stressed than in me entire life. Even more than when I first set out to come to America. My best friend in the entire world had been in love with me since we first met. Never once did he tell me, though, despite all the chances that he had. It's not like he ever had the chance, that a relationship between the two of us would be the easiest thing in the world to see happening; we were on completely different ends of the spectrum in... well, everything. Talk about stress.  
  
Since then, I have gone over all the things that Doctor Crane, Niles--I've taken to calling him that in me head as to not confuse things too much, as though it could get worse--and I have done over the years. All the touches, the looks, smiles, it all looked differently now. Had all the things he's done for me been out of friendship, or to try and bed me? Well, if what Roz says is right, then it's more than just a psychical attraction that Niles has felt for me. He, as she said, was in love with me. Of course, no one except Niles knows to what extent that love is. Or was. It's all so confusing.  
  
And Dr. Crane wonders why I've been acting odd lately.  
  
Oh, his meddling has been such a terror over these seven years. Always putting his nose where it doesn't belong, giving help that isn't needed, when no one cares for it, and making things a hundred times worse than what they were before. I know he means well, but he's just got to learn when to let things go.  
  
For the first time since I sat down, here at the vanity of me room at the Wayside Inn, a smile comes to my face. I've had several pleasant experiences with the Crane's... especially Niles.  
  
When I first met Doctor Crane's brother, I thought him to be a stuffy know-it-all. The thought that he would turn out to be my most trusted friend would have seemed completely absurd, and I would have dismissed it right off. But over the years, especially during his separation from--can't very well call her Mrs. Crane, so I guess for this situation I could call her by her first name--Maris, Niles and I became close. I would run to him whenever his father or brother were in an argument with each me, each other, or both. I could always count on him to lend an ear when I was feeling blue over a messy breakup, which happened quite more often than I like to let myself remember--the breakups, not going to him for help. Though now that I think of it, maybe I shouldn't have gone to him, or not as often. Maybe I had some part in his... loving... me.  
  
No, I can't keep on blaming meself for things I had no control over. It's not my fault that he was having troubles with his wife, that she was so insensitive to his needs that he'd look to anyone for a solution to them.  
  
I guess that's how everything began. How he started to fall in love me.  
  
I shake my head against the makeshift cradle I've made for it of my hands folded along my cheeks, my elbows pressing down on the hard oak of the vanity. I can't be thinking like that, especially now. I've just got to block all thoughts of Niles, his feelings, his wife, everything, out of my mind; they're just not the things you're supposed to think about the day before your wedding. Not that there is some guide out there on what to do and not to do in this situation, but if there ever was one, thinking about a man other than your husband-to-be would certainly not be high on the list.  
  
Tilting my head in my hands, I take a deep breath, exhale, and watch it fog the reflection of myself in front of me. A lot has certainly changed in the past seven years. If nothing else, then my wardrobe and hairstyle. I smile at the memory of one day years ago. When I first came to work for Dr. Crane, I didn't have much with me, which included a limited wardrobe. After I had settled in, I decided to go and get some new clothes. On one disastrous day, when I had intended to go shopping on my own, I ended up having to drag along Mr. Crane who wanted some new shirts, Dr. Crane who was worried that we'd put a dent in his car, and Niles who always drops in whenever we do anything. What an interesting day that turned out to be. Especially that look I got from Niles when I asked him if he could help me pick out some clothes.  
  
I didn't truly understand that look until a few months ago.  
  
All the moments like that, of Niles and I being together, will have to be pushed aside. I will do it, even though he helped to make Seattle my home, and to make me feel apart of a family so different from my own. It's what's best for the situation.  
  
But just because that's best doesn't mean I have to forget those moments completely. No, they'll never take that away from me  
  
  
The way you wear your hat.  
The way you sip your tea.  
The memory of all that  
Oh, no. They can't take that away from me.  
  
The way your smile just beams.  
The way you sing off-key.  
The way you haunt my dreams.  
No, no. They can't take that away from me.  
  
  
A few years ago, there was this one time that I think I could have gone for something outside of friendship with Niles. It was when Mr. Crane's lady friend Sherry was giving me a hard time over relationships, or my lack of one, and I went to Dr. Crane's--still go back and forth to his medical title, of which I've become so accustomed--to get away from her. Of course now I know the reason why he was so willing to let me stay with him that hot day. But at the time, I had been questioning my relationship with everyone, so, I probably wouldn't have put up much resistance if he had made a move. Damn thyroid pills. It was for the best, though, because if anything had happened that night--when neither of us was thinking clearly--we would have felt remorse for what had happened, and ruined any relationship we had had before.  
  
I sigh, standing as I move to go to the room's closet. I look through what I had packed, trying to get my mind away from what it was just thinking. I shouldn't be thinking like this; I've got to get back downstairs with everyone else, especially Donny.  
  
Oh, don't think for a second that I don't see the looks that people have when they see Donny and I together. I know that we're not the easiest couple to see together, a divorce lawyer and a physical therapist, but we do have some things in common. And even if we didn't, we love each other; that's all that matters.  
  
When Donny had first suggested that we go out to lunch other than his office to work, I had no idea we'd end up having such a fun time. It got off to a slow start--going over the sad, depressing facts of how Dr. Crane's marriage had ended in ruins-but after a while we got to talking about how I came to Seattle and what made him decide to become a lawyer. We must have looked like fools, sitting in that restaurant for hours, just talking like old friends that hadn't seen each other in years. But that's how I fell in love with him. I'll never understand how Roz could give him up.  
  
But then Roz would never be able to understand why anyone could feel romantic feelings toward Niles.  
  
After seeing that therapist that the judge made me see after causing a four-car pile-up, I've been trying to get everything to make sense. How I feel toward Donny, and what we've gone through together. But then at the same time, I can't help but remember all the things that Niles and I have done together. Sure, they all look a little different now that I know about his feelings, but they were still good times.  
  
The "good times" just seemed to be constant whenever he was around the apartment, but that ended when Mel entered the picture. After that, he stopped coming over as often, stopped the get-togethers, everything, as long as he had time for little Miss Maris #2. Oh, I still remember that brunch a few weeks ago, where we all tried to get to know her better, only to end up hating her more, and with me learning how many Bloody Mary's is too much. It took a lot of apologizing to get Doctor Crane to even want to think of coming over after that. But he kept on seeing Mel, even despite the fact that she was just like Maris. You'd think his head was made of wood the way he kept on not realizing how much of what we all said about her was true. He really must care for her--especially if he could marry her. I sigh as I come to this revelation. I might never be able to stand the sight of her, but she'll always be his wife, the one he loves. The one that replaced me.  
  
Without putting much thought into it, I pull out a dress. The one I had been wearing at the rehearsal wedding was ruined by Simon when he said his toast at the reception. After pulling him to the side and uttering some unkind words to him, I came up here to change. And ever since I've been sitting in the hotel's complimentary bathrobe, going over everything. Everyone's probably wondering what's taking me so long, but I doubt a single one of them will come up and risk getting their head bitten off. Metaphorically speaking, of course.  
  
Laughing to myself about that, I hear a knock at the door, then a voice. "Daph, honey? It's me. Are you ready to go back down?"  
  
Donny. I sigh, but then shake my head, reminding myself that he has every right to be on the other side of that door. Just in a day's time we're to be man and wife. Smoothing my hands over the sides of my dress, I say, "Yes, I'm fine, love. Be right out."  
  
Quickly, I walk over to the vanity once more to make sure everything's in place, and I suddenly notice what I'm wearing. The "little blue cocktail dress" that Niles had suggested I wear to Freddie's surprise birthday party a year ago. I release a small laugh as I remember the way I reacted a few months ago while I thought over the things Niles has said in double meaning over the years.  
  
Adjusting my hair in the mirror once more, I smile. Despite all the stress, all the questioning of my feelings, I'm happy. Sure, I've never been this confused in my entire life, but I've got the Cranes here to be there for me. And I've got Niles, and all the things we've done over the years. And no one can take that away from me.  
  
We may never, never meet again on the bumpy road to love.  
But I'll always, always keep the memory of...  
  
The way you hold your knife.  
The way we danced till three.  
The way you changed my life.  
No, no. They can't take that away from me.  
No, they can't take that away from me.  
  
-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-  
  
So, what did you think? I want to know! I'm here at DaphAndNiles@aol.com   
Thanks!!!  
  
-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-  
  



End file.
